AFC U-16 WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

Bangladesh hope to make good start

Bangladesh Under-16 women’s football team players stretch during a training session at the Chonburi Stadium in Thailand on Saturday. — BFF photo

Bangladesh will be looking to put up a good show when they take on hosts Thailand in their Group A opening match of the AFC Under-16 Women’s Championship 2019 at the Chonburi Stadium in Thailand today.

The other two teams of the Group A are Japan and Australia while the Group B is comprised of defending champions North Korea, runners-up South Korea, China and Vietnam.

The match will begin at 6:00pm Bangladesh Standard Time.

The eight nation tournament is also the qualifiers of the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup, scheduled to be held in India in 2020.

‘We are taking part in this tournament for the second time. I hope, tomorrow [Sunday] will be a competitive game against Thailand and we will see a good result,’ said Bangladesh coach Golam Rabbani Choton during a pre-match press conference on Saturday.

‘All participating teams are strong teams. Our girls are in good shape and after playing three friendly matches their confidence level has developed.’

Bangladesh captain Maria Manda believed that the three warm-up games that they played in Thailand would be very useful to make a good start in the tournament.

‘We practiced here well with friendly matches. We will try to make a good result in tomorrow’s game. We will give our hundred per cent,’ Maria said.

In their remaining group matches, Bangladesh will face Japan on September 18 and Australia on September 21, both at IPE Chonburi Stadium.

The champions and runners-up teams of the tournament will represent Asia alongside hosts India in the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2020.